Named Trains - Rockland Branch MEC

Hi All,

Were there any "named" trains that operated on the MEC Rockland Branch through Wiscasset "back in the day"? Seasonal perhaps? If so, what were they, what year(s) did they operate, and what was their basic schedule?

Thanks,

-Ed L.

Don't know how far back "back in the day" means, but from a June, 1933 MEC timetable, it appears that there were about three trains a day, none of them named. Took about 2:45 to ply the 84 miles between Portland and Rockland, making many stops.

I was able to check Official Guides from January 1934, June 1941, May 1945, and June 1954, and there is no mention of any train names on the local schedules from Portland to Brunswick and Rockland. The closest thing was in the 1941 Guide, which showed that the Down Easter (2 words) had a through Pullman and a through coach New York-Rockland, and the Bar Harbor Express had through Pullmans New York-Rockland and Philadelphia-Rockland, but no mention of a train name in the local Rockland schedule. (It has been reported in another thread that the New York Pullmans to and from New England in the Bar Harbor actually deadheaded between Philadelphia and New York to avoid switching in Penn Station.) The 1954 Guide shows a through coach Boston to Rockland in the Flying Yankee and Rockland to Boston in the Pine Tree, but again no mention of a train name in the local Rockland schedule.